Not a penny since June from my ex or the CSA

November 12, 2012

My childs father works full time and paid me £10 per week he had him 2 nights a week i contacted CSA in June to say i wanted to go through them so they can calculate the correct amount.since then my childs father has a new job working nights he now has his son 3 nights a week.

As im writing this its the 6th Nov 2012 and i havent had a penny from him since june and the CSA still hasnt sorted out how much he should pay me and when il start recieving the payments.

I was on hold 40 mins to get know where. Is 5 months with no payment exceptable can i get some advice on what to do next as im a stay at home mum im not entitled to JSA or income support as i have a new partner and no money to live on.

Comments

  • chall says:

    Heidi

    The CSA reckon that usually within 12 weeks of the application being received an agreement is made.

    Have you received any correspondence from the CSA?
    Have the CSA made contact with your ex yet, and set an effective date for your case to commence?

    It maybe a good idea to try and establish what exactly the agency have/have not done up to now. If you still can’t get anywhere escalate your case to a clearly marked complaint.

    Keeping ring the agency asking for updates.

    chall ~ afairercsaforall

  • Heidi says:

    Hi ive been calling the CSA every 3/4 weeks and everytime I ask what is happening they just fob me off and say its still being calculated, or the case worker has left, or theres no one in that department today, theres alot of updates to calculate, il put you through to the superviser then get cut off, il put you through to another department then get put on hold for 40mins!!!! and then get returned to the main switch board who wants my details all again and starts it as a new call ect ect. My ex has sent in wage slips since this all began and we both signed a letter confurming when he has my son so that CSA can see we are both in agreement to it. There is a bit of an update as i called them today and they said theyre still calculating it but so far with the hours my ex works and the wages up until he started the latest job he owes me £2249.72 so ive no idea how much he owes to date as he started his new job 6th August 2012. He wont ever have that kind of money so i bet he’l offer to pay a tiny amount ie £20-£30 and by then he’l be out of work and il never see a penny.Its annoying as hes a single man and rents a cheap flat so has next to nothing on his out goings so where does all his money go? Not to mention the £3000 he borrowed from my parents to buy a car when we were married in 2007 they never got the money back. Thanks for listening and taking time to reply 🙂

  • chall says:

    I think most parents on here understand how frustrating dealing with the CSA can be.

    Without knowing what the hold up is, it’s hard to say whether your case is subject to maladministration OR there is actually have reason to delay.

    Hopefully, your ex will have had the sense to check his liability on the CSA’s calculator and be putting an amount to one side for when the agency approach him for arrears.

    However, you may be in a position to apply for an advance payment, but you MUST have shown an interest in progressing the case during the period/s of delay – so keep ringing and writing (send all correspondence signed for and keep copies).

    chall

  • Alice says:

    if there are multiple changes on a case then the CSA must process all changes on the same day which can lead to delays – you mentioned that your ex started a new job in August which means that there is the initial assessment and at least one other change to be done – if your ex is paid monthly the agency would need a minimum of 2 full months payslips from his new job, if his August payslip was for a part month or included training allowance or anything else that meant it was not reflective of an average monthly income this wage slip would not be relevant, they would therefore need to ask for September and October wage slips in order to calculate his average weekly wage for the second assessment

  • Heidi says:

    Hi, my x has been paid weekly in his new job, week 1 is a night rate and week 2 is a day shift rate so all wage slips have been sent to the csa and i called them to make sure my x had sent them and they had been recieved in september.i suspect the next challenge will be getting him to pay what he owes me.

  • Alice says:

    Has the intiial assessment been calculated? If it has then there will be arrears on the case which the CSA can start collecting pending the other changes being processed – as they know his current employer they will be able to impose a deduction of earnings order if he is not making payments – they must have issued him a warning letter about his arrears and given him 7 days either clear his arrears in full or make an agreement for his regular maintenance and something towards the arrears.

    If a person is paid weekly then the CSA require a minimum of 5 weekly payslips – again if there are any additions or deductions on his wages that mean they do not reflect an average weekly wage then further wages slips will be requested.

  • Heidi says:

    All the correct wage slips have been recieved a while ago.The £2249.72 is what they have calculated so far but they said theyre still working it out. ive not recieved any notification through the post with this just what they told me on the phone. They said they told my x to make payments of £30pw from 12th Nov 2012 to start paying off some of the debt until they have completed the calculations, but guess what no payment and still ive not heard from them with the final amount owed.

  • Alice says:

    If you have not received any written notifications then the changes are outstanding. If you ex has been asked to pay £30 per week pending the changes being processed and he has not made payment then the CSA can take the next step and issue a DEO

    contact them asap and ask as follows:

    What Method of Collection was agreed in respect of the £30 per week
    if Direct Debit or Card payment – has payment been received
    if yes when will the payment be released to you (remember to allow 2-3 working days for bank clearance – some banks do same day clearance, check with your bank if they do this)

    if no to ‘has payment been received’
    ask has a warning letter been issued regarding the arrears
    if yes a DEO can be issued
    if no – ask them to issue a warning letter and have them monitor the case for 8 days to see if payment has been received and if no payment is received issue a DEO.

    If a DEO is issued then the employer will deduct at the frequency your ex is paid – in your case this is weekly, the employer however has the option to pay the money to the CSA monthly – if they take this option then they should pay this to the agency by the 19th of the following month – ie any payments deducted from wages paid in November should be paid to the CSA by the 19th of December. Again allow for bank clearance times – if an employer pays by cheque this will take up to 7 working days to clear and then a further 2-3 working days bank clearance into your account.

    With regards to the outstanding changes you need to ask

    has an initial assessment been done – if so what is the effective date and how much was this for, if there has been an initial assessment and you do not have the maintenance calculation letter a copy can be issued to you

    how many changes are outstanding on your case

    what information has been requested from the NRP and has this been supplied
    has any information been requested from the Nrp’s employer – if so what and has this been supplied.

    is there any outstanding information which needs to be supplied by the NRP or their employer

    are there any periods of benefits or gap periods which need to be accounted for – ie when he changed jobs was there a period between his last employment ending and his new employment starting – if so did he receive benefit in this period and if not has the agency established how he supported himself in that period.

    good luck

  • chall says:

    Alice,

    As you claim to be a member of CSA staff, don’t you find it ridiculous that ‘clients’ are expected to ~

    a) fully understand CSA rules and procedures and,

    b) contact staff to encourage them to proceed with their own procedures ?

    Heidi,

    If your case is subjected to agency maladministration, you may be in a position to apply for an ADVANCED PAYMENT, but you MUST have shown an interest in progressing the case during the period/s of delay – so keep ringing and writing (send all correspondence signed for and keep copies).

    chall

  • Heidi says:

    Hi before reading your reply yesterday i called the CSA to find out where my payment is as it was due on 12th nov as advised by the last phone called last week. They said they havent recieved it so i asked for attachment to earnings they said they would be breaking the law if they took the £30pw as if it was too much it was illegal??? Oh please!!!!! They then said for me to stop contacting them and they will contact me when the case has progressed. I have been chasing them since June and theyve not sorted out anything i cant see how not pushing the case is going to speed it up.

  • chall says:

    Heidi,

    It seems your ex has been asked by the CSA to pay a default maintenance rate until they completed the necessary work on your case. In which case a DEO would be inappropriate.

    chall

  • Alice says:

    @ chall – I wouldn’t necessarily say that the client is expected to fully understand the rules and procedures, in my reply I am most probably giving out more detail on the procedures that the client would be given on a call to the agency – the reason I gave this amount of information was so that Heidi could maybe get more information and come back to me with that and I would maybe be able to give her further advice

    with regards to the client having to contact the agency to encourage the next step to be taken, it’s unfortunate that this is necessary. the simple reason for that is the amount of work that the staff – seriously I could work a 12 hour shift 7 days a week and still not get my desk cleared of work. Most of us do our best and work very very hard and we find it very frustrating too. Due to the volume of work we have to prioritise cases, and client driven work is high on the list, basically those who call time and time again will get their cases worked the quickest – and that is the brutal truth.

    If a Default Maintenance Decision had been implemented a Maintenance Calculation letter would have been issued and a DEO would still be a consideration. DMD’s are only implemented to plug gaps where the agency don’t have the necessary information to progress the case to a new MC, Heidi has indicated that her ex has provided all the necessary info/evidence so I can’t see why a DMD would be in place

    @ Heidi, if the agency have not processed the initial maintenance calculation and any subsequent changes the account will not actually have started charging yet, I think the £30pw they have suggested that your ex pays meanwhile would be classed as advance or voluntary payments – technically until the MCs are in place he doesn’t legally have any arrears (and I re-iterate this is technically) once the MC(s) are in place they will be effective back to the dates the case was opened and the changes were reported … as such a DEO would be illegal. Can I ask what level of communication there is between you and your ex? Is there a chance that he would be willing to pay you direct whilst the agency progress the case and the MCs and then once they know what the arrears are you can declare the payments that he has made and they can adjust this off the arrears once they are on the system?

    As I stated earlier client driven work is a priority so I would encourage you to keep phoning weekly for updates – next call you make ask the questions in my earlier reply

  • Heidi says:

    Its now 5th December 2012 and ive not recieved any payment or any contact from the CSA since last time i phone them on the 20th November 2012!

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